


Will you sing to the Beat of my Heart?

by crystalklances



Series: Musician!Keith Verse [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anal Sex, Artist Lance (Voltron), Bottom Lance (Voltron), Fluff and Smut, Glove Kink, M/M, Musician Keith (Voltron), Mutual Pining, Pining Lance (Voltron), Top Keith (Voltron), lgbt writer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2019-01-29 10:09:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12628686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crystalklances/pseuds/crystalklances
Summary: Keith is a musician sometimes playing in the park Lance walks through every day. Lance falls in love—both with the music, and Keith. Keith, meanwhile, can't help but notice the cutie in the crowd. Both think there is no chance to get to know each other—but fate has a different plan.





	Will you sing to the Beat of my Heart?

**Author's Note:**

> I had a lot of fun writing this fic already all the way back in August lol. I hope you enjoy!

The first time Lance encountered the street musician, he was fascinated.

He was on the way to his studio, walking through the big park. From one corner, he heard the unmistakable sound of a guitar, a gravelly voice singing along to it. Lance had always loved music, playing the guitar passionately himself growing up, even if he had chosen fine arts and fashion over music in the end. And that voice—well, it was attractive, so who could blame Lance for wanting to know what the singer would look like?

He walked into the direction the music was coming from and what he saw made him stop in place, lips slightly parted. There, underneath the statue of a giant lion, was a guy around Lance’s age, maybe a bit older, with black hair in long bangs and curling up wildly around his neck underneath a dark red beanie. He was wearing a black v-neck with a red plaid shirt on top, sleeves rolled up to the middle of his forearms. He had multiple leather belts with his dark gray jeans. He was sitting on the backrest of a bench, his feet in red-black-and-white Converse-style sneakers placed on the seat of it.

He was playing on a guitar painted in a shiny, bright red. Lance’s eyes wandered to his playing fingers—and he saw that the guy was wearing fingerless leather gloves. _Jesus_.

So not only did the guy play the guitar, had a _really_ attractive voice, but was also _looking_ hot as heck? Lance didn’t know how to handle this, so early in the day.

Lance looked around. He couldn’t spot an open guitar case or similar for money donations. Instead, he found a display with posters and a stack of promo CDs on a display table. The posters read ‘Red K’ along with a number of social media, including twitter, facebook and, finally, various portals for streaming and selling music.

So he wasn’t merely a street artist, but rather an indie musician promoting his album.

Lance wondered if he was a local artist, or if he was touring different places. He kind of hoped Red was a local artist.

Lance couldn’t say that he had listened to each and every artist and song out there of what he liked to call ‘edgy music,’ judging by Red’s style, the poster, as well as the lyrics. But Lance was drawn in by Red; he couldn’t tell why yet, but he couldn’t deny that. He stayed to listen to the entire song, despite still having fifteen minutes to walk ahead of him.

After the song was finished, Lance walked up behind a couple of other people to grab one of the CDs, along with a business card.

At that moment, Red looked up and their eyes met, just for a brief moment. But that moment left Lance near-motionless. Red’s eyes were dark gray and _intense_ as if storms were raging in them. Lance could have stared forever after Red looked back down again—at his thick eyebrows, drawn together the slightest bit in focus, as well as at his visible front teeth as he was biting his bottom lip when not singing.

A subtle cough behind him brought him back to the present, and Lance let out a sheepish giggle before making a run for it.

He already knew that the moment he got to his studio, he would listen to the promo CD and at the next opportunity, he would buy all of Red’s music. According to the poster, the promo CD also came with a discount for the full album, so Lance would make use of that.

He hoped for a chance to see Red again.

 

It didn’t just stay at listening to the promo CD over and over while at the studio. Eventually, Lance looked Red up on his preferred streaming platform so that he could hear more, connecting his phone to the stereo for maximum enjoyment. Usually, Lance loved listening to upbeat, cheery pop music or classical music while working. He _did_ also enjoy the Alternative genre a lot, though. And with Red—well, it definitely had been love at first listen.

When Lance took a break from sewing his new collection of sundresses, he sat down in front of the computer with the lunch he had brought from home. He opened the browser to look up Red’s social media, starting with Twitter, as it was a platform he was active on, himself.

The header of Red’s profile was a photo of him leaning against a red and white motorbike, bright red electric guitar next to him. Red’s gaze was turned to the ground, hands in his pockets. Lance couldn’t help but snort at how extra the whole photo was, through the filters and the angles. And yet, it seemed to fit Red’s whole thing. Red appeared to be wearing the same outfit he had been wearing when Lance saw him in the park, or a very similar one. The profile picture was a close-up of Red’s face from the header image. Lance was a bit disappointed he didn’t get a clear view of his eyes.

The description had the typical details included in profiles of content creators. Lance scrolled through the tweets, finding they were equal parts about his music, and his bike, his pet cat, as well as other personal things. There was also the occasional very out-of-context looking tweet. Lance couldn’t help but laugh at some of them. There were selfies from time to time, but none seemed to have a smiling face. Not that there was anything wrong with that; Red’s resting grumpy face was handsome. Still, Lance couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like if he smiled. Would his eyes crinkle? Would it be just a tug of his lips, onesided, or a full grin?

He really wanted to follow. Would that be weird? Lance was logged in with his own ‘official’ account, which, frankly, was even more resembling a personal account than Red’s, and Lance was a lot more active, as well. Then again, it wasn’t too unusual for content creators to follow and support each other, was it? And Lance really wanted to get a glimpse at Red’s life and find out about upcoming projects.

Before he would debate with himself even longer while the cursor hovered over the follow button, Lance finally clicked.

It was only after he did it that Lance noticed what Red’s display name was: Keith, followed by music note emojis.

Huh. Was that what the K in ‘Red K’ stood for? That made sense. But now, Lance didn’t know what to use to refer to him with—Red or Keith? He guessed he would figure it out, or use both, or something.

Finally, Lance also saw that the location marker was filled out: and Red—Keith—was, indeed, from this area. This—this meant that they could pass by each other in random places, could have passed by each other before, without knowing. The thought made Lance’s heart beat faster.

Lance finished his lunch while following and subscribing to Keith’s other profiles. He hoped this wasn’t weird. But that was what social media were for, after all—following people whose content you like and want to see more of. And Keith promoting himself like that meant that all followers were welcome. At least, that was going by Lance’s own way of promoting himself.

That aside, Lance knew that the chances that Keith would ever look at Lance’s profiles let alone follow back were minimal. Even with his follower count being in manageable numbers, Keith probably didn’t check every notification, if at all.

Eventually, Lance had to get back to work. Red K continued to be the only music he listened to that day.

 

A week later, Red K was back at the park. Again, Lance stood along with the crowd, mesmerized. He couldn’t take his eyes away from Keith. This time, the shirt he was wearing over a black v-neck was checkered red and black, and there were metal studs on his belts and fingerless gloves. It was only now, with the lack of a beanie this time, that Lance noticed that Keith had pierced ears. Lance didn’t think it was possible that the guy could become even hotter.

Lance just stood in the back this time, not stepping forward to grab a CD, as he could see that it was the same as the last time.

He wondered, was Keith there every week? Had he been there before at different times? Had he been there before but Lance had never noticed? Though that seemed unlikely, as Lance definitely would have noticed someone playing music and attracting a small crowd like that.

Would he be back every week at the same time now? Lance hoped so. Maybe he could leave home earlier just in case so that he’d have more time to stand and listen to Red. It’s not like Lance absolutely had to be on time, being freelance and all, but he did need to get work done, so he had to make compromises.

The temptation to stand and listen forever was big, but eventually, he had to leave again. He waited until another song was over. It was then that Keith looked up—right into Lance’s eyes with those intense eyes of his. Lance’s face heated up. He felt like a deer in the headlights. Abruptly, he turned and rushed away.

With his back turned, he didn’t know that Keith was looking after him until his retreating form disappeared behind the next corner.

 

One Friday, Lance saw Keith tweet that he would be ‘at the usual spot’ to play this afternoon, including requests from the audience. Lance’s heart skipped a beat. Could it be the park? Lance usually worked shorter hours on Fridays, so he would be able to make it for sure. If that was indeed the place Keith was talking about.

After lunch, Lance found it hard to focus on his illustration.

Finally, he called it quits and packed up his laptop, tablet, and the sketchbook and drawing tools he always carried back and forth between the studio and his apartment. He rinsed out his coffee cup, like he always did until he had time to clean properly. He packed away the empty box from his lunch and checked to make sure every electronic device was turned off.

He shouldered his backpack and left, locking up behind himself. The walk to the park was spent in anticipation.

When he arrived, he smiled when he heard the unmistakable sound of an acoustic guitar and Keith’s gravelly voice. It really was the right location, then.

Lance walked up to the crowd and weaseled his way to a position that wasn’t too close, but not distant, either. He was glad for his height being in the upper average range, as he would be able to see okay no matter what. He adjusted his glasses. He didn’t need those, not for distances; he had to wear them for working as well as to avoid clumsy accidents. They were red square frames, as Lance liked how they accentuated his royal blue eyes. Well, and red was a beautiful color. He had loved the color already before he first saw Keith, though Keith primarily using the color sure helped to make it even more attractive.

Red was currently singing some of his own songs. Eventually, though, he turned to the crowd to take requests—any requests, including covers of other songs.

Lance had a couple of titles that he’d love to see performed by him, but he was feeling too shy to speak up. It was a little frustrating—usually, Lance wore a mask of confidence. So why did it fail on him when it came to Red?

So Lance contented himself to just stand and listen. His gaze flickered in between Keith’s hands and his face as he was watching him play and sing. It didn’t even matter to Lance what song Keith was singing—he could pull anything off. Lance was sure that Keith could sing about something as mundane as brushing his teeth and it would be fantastic and sound hot.

…God, Lance really had to stop his thoughts from wandering. Watching Keith’s hands didn’t help—those fingerless gloves did things to Lance.

Instead, he tried to focus on the singer’s face now. Taking in the barely there quirk of his eyebrows, how his lips moved, how his hair fell into his face, how it curled up in the nape of his neck. Lance wished he could get a proper view of his eyes again, not concealed by short, dark eyelashes.

That was a mistake.

Keith looked up and let his eyes wander the crowd—and they met Lance’s, for the third time now. A shiver ran down Lance’s spine as Keith’s eyes seemed to linger on him, seizing him up, until his gaze wandered again.

Lance suddenly hoped that he didn’t look stupid to someone wearing an edgy style like that, in his own vintage jacket and the simple, comfortable clothes he had picked for that day. Hoped that his hair was fine, that he didn’t look tired, that his glasses weren’t weird.

He didn’t know how much time had passed, listening to and watching Keith play, but eventually, the crowd was thinning and Keith stopped playing. When Keith packed away his guitar, Lance realized that he was the only one who hadn’t made a move to leave yet.

Red looked up at that moment and spotted Lance still standing in the same place. Caught off guard, Lance gave a nervous smile before he started walking, fiddling with the strap of his backpack.

He nearly walked into the wrong direction.

He wasn’t aware that Red let out a low “huh” as he watched Lance go.

 

Some weeks after he had first seen Keith promote his album in the park, Lance was spending time with his friends. They were hanging out together at Allura’s place. While Hunk, Allura, and Coran were in the kitchen to prepare lunch, Lance and Pidge were sitting in the living room, listening to the radio.

Lance nearly jumped up when a familiar guitar sound started playing. He rushed to the stereo to crank up the volume. Pidge gave him a look, but he ignored her in favor of bopping his head and moving his hands to the beat. After this much time had passed, naturally, Lance knew all the lyrics to Keith’s songs—so he sang along. Under his breath, though, so he would still be able to hear Keith’s voice.

The others walked in to set the table somewhere in between, but Lance was too focused on the song, one of his favorites. When the song was over, Lance turned the volume down again and turned—and looked right at his friends who were all staring at him.

“What?” he asked. “It’s Red K, I had to appreciate properly.”

“Who now?” Hunk asked.

“Red K!” Lance said like it was the most obvious thing. Which, to him, it was. “Only my favorite artist!”

“I thought your favorite was—“ Allura started.

But Lance interrupted her. “That was before I met Red K.”

“ _Met_ him?” Pidge raised her eyebrows.

“Well, not quite _met_ in that sense, but he sometimes plays at the park. You know, the one I always pass through on the way to the studio and back.” Lance paused. “That was a few weeks ago now. He was promoting a new album while I was walking to the studio, and I stood to listen and took a promo CD. It was love at first listen… and first sight.” He let out a dramatic sigh.

His friends shared a look. In the background, Coran was setting the table, amused smile on his lips.

Lance huffed. He pulled out his phone to open the Twitter app, pulling up Keith’s profile, and showed it to the others. “Just _look_ at him.”

“Yeah, I guess he’s your type,” Pidge noted.

“Is that why you suddenly started wearing shirts like that over your t-shirts?” Hunk asked.

“And why you’ve suddenly been talking about wanting to design a line of men’s wear, which you never seemed to have an interest in?” Allura added.

“Don’t make fun of me!” Lance whined. “Inspiration just happens when I have the right feelings!”

“Sure, sounds fake, but okay.”

The others shared looks again, and Lance huffed.

At that moment, Coran reminded everyone that lunch was ready. Lance was glad for the distraction.

He had just admitted to everyone—including himself—that he had a giant crush on the singer, ever since the first moment.

 

***

 

Keith woke up late from his night out drinking with Shiro and Matt to a notification of being mentioned and tagged in a photo. He groaned at the brightness of the screen. Once his eyes adjusted—ignoring his headache—Keith opened the tweet.

 

 **Lance** @blueliondesign

Just a little wind-down doodle of @redkmusic. Give his fantastic music a listen!

 

The picture was a photo of a marker sketch, and, well, to Keith, it looked like a fucking masterpiece. It was so fantastic, he couldn’t even come up with any superlatives—though he had no idea if that was maybe just his hangover speaking. The piece was in amazing detail and captured all of Keith’s features while putting him in a cartoon-ish style. The clothes the artist had put him in were one of his typical outfits, complete with beanie and fingerless gloves.

Keith was curious who the artist was, and something about the icon struck him as familiar, though he couldn’t place why that would be. He clicked into the profile and looked at the description. He found out that it was a guy a year younger than him, a local freelance artist and indie fashion designer, who was already following him. Keith scrolled around a bit. Apparently, Keith’s music also inspired him to start on a collection of men’s wear. There was talk about his pet cat and fish. There were photos of his creations and more of his art.

When he saw a selfie, however, Keith nearly dropped his phone right on his face.

He thought it was just the hangover playing tricks on him, but, no: it was a familiar face. Bronze skin with copper-dust freckles. Sparkling royal blue eyes that had a hint of tiredness. A cute upturned nose. Soft, brown curls cropped neatly and framing his face. A bright, dimpled smile.

There was no mistaking it. It was the cute guy who had been present at some of Keith’s gigs in the park recently. Keith had to admit that the guy had caught his intrigue the moment he had first laid eyes on him. But Keith would have never dreamed that he would ever find him like this.

Yet here Keith was, and now he knew the cute guy’s name, profession, and the fact that apparently, Keith’s music inspired him a lot. Keith had thought it was just a random passerby, just another face in the crowd, with no chance to talk to him, no matter how much this beautiful face stood out to him. But now here he was, with a window of opportunity wide open. He just needed to make the leap out.

Keith clicked back to the tweet with the sketch. He hit the like button, quoted it with a comment, then retweeted. Then, following his heart, he clicked the follow button on Lance’s profile.

Satisfied for now, Keith tossed his phone next to his pillow again, then buried himself under the blanket once more. He needed another couple of hours before he would drown himself in coffee so that he could be able to write new songs.

 

***

 

Sunday morning, Lance was out for breakfast with his friends. He had just returned from the restroom when he checked his phone. He nearly dropped the device on his french toast when he saw the notifications. He opened them on the Twitter app.

 

 **Keith** @redkmusic

Holy shit, this is amazing, man.

 

Keith had quoted his sketch with these words, for all his followers to see, and retweeted it, too. Everyone would be able to see Lance’s art. And to top it off, Keith _followed him back_ now. This was too much to take in at once, this early in the day.

All Lance could do was gape down at his screen.

“What’s wrong, Lance?” Allura asked.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Hunk added.

Lance looked up at them. From next to him, Pidge leaned into his personal space to get a look at his phone. Lance was too flabbergasted to stop her. Pidge piped up: “Looks like his idol noticed him.”

“Ohhhh?” Hunk and Allura singsonged in unison.

Lance huffed and locked his phone screen to put it away. He’d return to the interactions later, when there were no prying eyes to tease him. His breakfast and coffee were starting to get cold, anyway.

He ignored his friends’ teasing until they grew tired and changed the subject. It was too bad that he couldn’t tease Hunk and Allura for dancing around each other anymore in return.

 

Even though Keith followed him back now, nothing seemed to change.

Sure, they had a few interactions online, here and there, giving the other words of support, and sometimes having random smalltalk (that somehow turned into small arguments a lot of the time). But whenever Lance went to watch Keith play, it was still the same: Lance was too shy to stay and try to talk. Whenever Keith’s eyes met his—which happened quite a lot—Lance’s face would flush hotly. And if he stayed for the entire performance, he would inevitably chicken out when everyone else left as well.

He was frustrated with himself. Here he was with the perfect setup to build a bond, but he held himself back. All because he had a stupid crush on Keith, he couldn’t speak up to strike a friendship. Even though, with the way Keith’s eyes always seemed to find him no matter how crowded it was, there might even be a chance for something _more_.

But the most he did was request for Keith to play a song here and there, when Keith was open for requests. Sure, they happened to be romantic songs, for the most part, but they were Lance’s favorites. And sure, Keith never denied the requests, even held eye contact with Lance throughout parts of them, but…

Why was Lance so scared? Even a short fling or something like friends with benefits would be more than he currently had—which was nothing. But it wasn’t what Lance wanted.

He wanted true connections. Sure, he wouldn’t say no to sex with Keith, hell no. He was far too attracted to Keith to deny that. But at the end of the day, he wanted a chance for the budding emotions to bloom into something wonderful, grow to be a full flower of love.

And so, he ran away from any opportunity to take matters into his own hands.

He thought, if fate wanted it to happen, then it would. If not… then he would have to live with just admiring Keith from afar, with the sparks shooting through him from their eye contact, with the casual exchanges online. Ignoring the ‘what if’s that could go right.

To him, that was better than facing the ‘what if’s of things that could go wrong.

 

***

 

It was a hot summer’s day when Keith was approached by Shiro.

“How would you feel about performing at a private party?”

“Depends,” Keith said, not looking up from his music sheets.

“Matt’s little sister is here for a visit, and she mentioned that it’s her best friend’s birthday on Saturday,” Shiro explained. “Apparently, he’s a big fan of yours.”

“And because it’s your boyfriend’s sister, saying no is not an option. Got it.”

“It’s not like that,” Shiro said quickly. “Maybe if you come join us, you can meet Pidge, and she can tell you everything herself?” He added: “We have coffee.”

Something about the name ‘Pidge’ sounded familiar to Keith, though he couldn’t quite place it at the moment. He sighed. “Alright. Give me a minute and I’ll be there. But I’ll have you know that it’s just for the coffee.”

“Of course, of course.”

Shiro left, closing the basement door behind him.

Keith sighed again. He tried to finish the sentence he had been in the middle of writing when Shiro had come to interrupt him.

He was writing a new song—a song about blue eyes that haunted his mind, that he couldn’t get enough of. Keith had never been one to write love songs, and if he listened to them, he would ignore the lyrics, most of the time. But ever since Lance had walked into his life, Keith found himself slowly shifting until, at some point, he was obsessed with love songs. That had all started when Lance had requested a love song for the first time. Suddenly, Keith found himself coming up with lyrics that held his feelings, some in subtle ways, some outright describing Lance. With the song he was working on at the moment, he would have enough to have an entire album, full of his pining.

That was to show just how much he wanted to get closer to the other, huh? He would take anything he could get. But so far, he couldn’t quite manage to grasp a chance, yet.

He sighed once more. He’d go back to the song later, no use trying to finish the sentence when his train of thought had been interrupted. He put his pen down and rolled back his chair. He got up and left his studio and living space in Shiro and Matt’s basement. He was thankful that they provided this space for him, as it enabled him to live his dream of making music at the cost of merely needing to help out with chores.

On the side, Keith was saving up to afford a nice apartment he could also use as working space. There was also always an upgrade of equipment, like a better camera so he could make better videos, be it for his music or otherwise. But he had to set priorities; you can’t always have everything at once.

When he walked up to the living room, Keith spotted Shiro and Matt at the table with a younger face that looked familiar, though Keith reasoned it was because of family resemblance with Matt. Keith sat down in his usual seat, nodding in greeting. Shiro slid a mug of coffee over for him. Keith reached for the sugar jar because he knew that neither Shiro nor Matt would add it for him.

“How nice of you to leave your evil lair,” Matt teased.

Keith just rolled his eyes and took a sip of coffee. Then, he looked at the stranger in the chair across from him. “You must be Matt’s sister, then.”

“Yep, I’m Katie, though my brother and friends call me Pidge,” she said.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Keith.” He paused. “So… I’ve heard you have a favor to ask of me?”

“Right to business, huh?” Pidge whistled. “Alright. Yeah, I do. I would like to request that you come to my best friend’s birthday. It’s just our closest friends, plus Matt and Shiro if you decide to come, at our friend Allura’s house. Free food and drinks for you guys, and a place to sleep is provided, too. The house is more like a mansion, so there’s plenty of space, and our friend Hunk is basically a five-star cook so I can vouch for the excellent quality of the food. There’s going to be both booze and non-alcoholic drinks, for all tastes.”

“So why ask me?” Keith asked, idly tracing the rim of his cup. “Just because it’s convenient because I’m friends with your brother?”

“Actually, my friend is a big fan of yours,” Pidge replied. “To be honest, I didn’t know who exactly you were until recently, just that my brother and his boyfriend happen to have a musician in their basement. So when I found out, this close to Lance’s birthday… well, I had to try my luck.”

Keith nearly choked on the sip of coffee he had been taking while listening. He set his cup down with more force than necessary. Suddenly, it clicked. Why the name sounded familiar, why the names Hunk and Allura rang a bell, why Pidge _looked_ familiar. He had seen her on pictures together with Lance before, as well as with their other friends, on his Twitter timeline.

He stared at Pidge. “Did you just say Lance?”

“Yeah, I did.” Pidge raised an eyebrow. “As far as I’m aware, you’re mutuals with him on Twitter.”

“Y-yeah…”

Keith stared into his coffee, weighing his options. Logically speaking, he should say no to this, playing basically for free. But… this was for Lance’s birthday. _Lance_. The guy Keith kind of had a huge crush on. This could be his one chance to make a solid move. He could even play one of his songs about Lance, disguised as an exclusive preview of his new album. Though Lance would hopefully get the message. Keith would have to make sure he came prepared, in case—

He took a long sip of coffee to shake his thoughts away from that direction. There would be time for that later, when he was alone in his room again. He set his cup down again, looked straight into Pidge’s eyes, and said: “Alright, I’ll do it.”

“Really?”

Keith nodded. “Yeah. I guess it could be fun. The food better be as good as you say, though.”

Pidge gave him a relieved smile. “Thank you so much! But yeah, the food really is that good, I can assure that.”

“Alright.” Keith downed the rest of the coffee in one gulp. “If that was all, I’ll go downstairs again. I have songs to write. I’ll get the necessary details from Shiro and Matt.”

He stood and left with a wave, not even waiting for words of farewell.

He had to finish the song about Lance’s eyes. And then—well, maybe he’d indulge himself in some fantasies involving Lance, and with the both of them being naked, Lance underneath him on soft sheets.

 

***

 

Lance didn’t expect too much for his birthday. After all, it was just a gathering in the early evening with his closest friends, including Coran, at Allura’s place. All the bigger was his curiosity when he was told to sit put at the table, with his eyes blindfolded. He was about to make a comment at how kinky this was, but he was shushed. He could hear Pidge talk to someone in the hallway. He frowned.

He was about to open his mouth to ask what the heck was going on, when everyone fell silent—and a guitar started playing. Lance froze. Someone removed the blindfold. Lance’s mouth dropped open in disbelief.

There, across from him, sat Keith aka Red K, smirking at Lance—then he started to sing Happy Birthday.

This had to be a dream, right? There was no way this was really happening. Keith, here at his birthday party, singing _for him_ … he was stuck in a daydream, that had to be it. And, well, if he was, then he didn’t want to wake up any time soon.

Eventually, the song was over, and Lance had no idea what to do. Was he supposed to clap? Say thank you? Do nothing and hope for something to happen?

In the end, he couldn’t stop gaping like a fish, wide-eyed. Way to go, Lance, embarrassing yourself in front of your crush on your own birthday.

Keith was smirking at him again, the same way he sometimes did at performances, recently, when Lance’s face flushed hotly while they held eye contact. Lance could feel his face heating up now, too.

Keith asked: “Do you have any requests while I’m here for you?”

“Anything!” Lance’s voice was more of a high-pitched squeak. He cleared his throat. “Play anything! I love everything you do.”

“Anything, huh?” Keith seemed to consider for a few seconds. “Then, how about I give an exclusive sneak peek at my new album? A brand new song, never performed before.”

Without waiting for an answer, he started playing—and like before, he continued looking straight at Lance.

A pleasant shiver ran down Lance’s spine. The sensation only intensified once Lance realized what the song was about: someone with beautiful blue eyes who Keith couldn’t forget about.

God, Lance thought to himself, _he_ had blue eyes _._ The song just couldn’t be about him, could it? But Keith was looking at him so intensely like Lance was the only thing in the world… what did that _mean_?

After the song was over, Keith played one other song, one of Lance’s favorites—the first song Lance had ever heard Keith play. Finally, he put his guitar away and cleared his throat. “I know I already congratulated you with a song, but happy birthday, Lance.”

Lance opened and closed his mouth for a few times, trying to come up with something good to say in response. Finally, he cleared his throat, as well. “Thank you. I’m—I’m speechless.” He laughed softly, barely audible. “It kind of feels like a dream.”

Keith chuckled. “Oh, it’s very much real. I’m here and staying for the whole night. All the way until morning.”

There wasn’t really a chance for Lance to say anything in return, as the table was served at that moment: starting off with a birthday cake, and sparkling wine instead of coffee, considering the hour.

 

If he was honest, the night passed in a blur for Lance. After cake, it was dinner, still with different wines. After that, everyone spread around the lounge. Hunk, Allura, and Pidge were in conversation with Pidge’s brother, Matt. Coran was in animated conversation with Matt’s boyfriend, Shiro.

Lance walked out on the patio, as it was a lovely, warm night and he needed some fresh air. He sat down on the corner sofa, looking up at the stars that had started to come out.

Someone sat next to him. “Beautiful.” It was Keith.

“Yeah.”

“I wasn’t talking about the stars.”

Lance tore his eyes away from the sky to look at Keith—who was extremely close and looking at Lance.

“What were you talking about, then?” Lance asked lamely.

“You.”

“O-oh…”

“Why are you always running away after my performances in the park?”

“I’m not running away.”

Lance’s heart was beating fast and he felt incredibly hot, though he didn’t know if that was because of Keith, or because of the alcohol he had had so far.

“You never stay.”

Lance remained silent.

“Are you scared of what could happen?”

“I’m scared of what could go wrong,” Lance finally admitted.

“But how will you know if it will go wrong or not if you never try?” Keith asked. When Lance didn’t answer, he said: “I wrote an entire album about you, you know. The song I sang earlier was the last one I did for it.”

“Why?” Lance asked.

“Why?” Keith laughed softly. “Because you caught my attention and kept it,” he said. “I seriously can’t get you out of my head.”

“W-well,” Lance said weakly, “I can’t get you out of my head, either.”

“So basically,” Keith summed up, “we lost a whole bunch of time for nothing. But that’s okay…” he inched closer, _closer_. “We can make up for it now.” He cupped Lance’s face with one hand.

And then, Keith’s lips were on his. It took Lance a good second to process and kiss back, but oh, if this wasn’t the best kiss he remembered ever having. He slowly sank backward, his back hitting the surface of the couch, Keith hovering over him. One of Keith’s hands held Lance’s hand, the other moved from his face, down, to where Lance’s shirt slipped up to reveal part of Lance’s stomach and hips.

 _Keith was wearing his fingerless gloves_.

Lance moaned into the kiss, his free hand moving up to grab Keith’s hair and lightly tug at it, and Keith took the opportunity to slip his tongue into Lance’s mouth, groaning into it. His hand sneaked into the back of Lance’s jeans, squeezing Lance’s ass.

Just when Lance thought he was bound to get hard any moment now, Keith broke the kiss. His face was mere centimeters away from Lance’s, and he said, voice low and hoarse: “Let’s continue this, later, in my room.”

Nodding eagerly was all Lance could do.

Keith smiled, softer than anything Lance had seen on him before, and he moved away, helping Lance sit up.

They had to return to the party acting as if they hadn’t just been moments away from having sex on the patio.

 

Usually, Lance loved all meetings with his friends, loved drawing their little parties out till the very end. But now, he was impatient, full of anticipation. It couldn’t end soon enough. Why did everyone still eat and drink? Why did everyone have to talk so much? Lance just wanted to disappear with Keith, feel Keith’s lips again, feel Keith’s hands all over his body.

He wondered if the others had noticed something after all, if they continued the party in such slow tempo just to mess with him. What else would be the explanation for this?

Lance had to jump from one side to the other, after all, it was _his_ birthday party. He tried to act like nothing was wrong, talked and joked like he always did. But he could feel Keith’s eyes on him, full of desire. This did nothing to stop his own desire.

Finally, _finally_ , everyone started to get tired one after the other, and Allura decided to call it quits. Her house was big enough that everyone could sleep over in guest rooms. Hunk, as always, would stay with her in her room. Pidge stayed in her usual place—Coran’s workshop because she claimed she slept better around machines. Shiro and Matt shared a guest room, Keith had a guest room for himself, and Lance would stay in his usual room—except he had different plans now.

Lance was in one of the bathrooms, equally for his skin care and—well, to prepare for what was about to go down between him and Keith. They hadn’t talked about positions at all, so he was entirely going by his hunch of what Keith wanted, and his own wishes. Lance knew that, for some reason, Coran always made sure to keep all bathrooms supplied with all kinds of tools for hygiene, so nothing would get in the way of taking whichever step. At least, Lance liked to think that it was just a general thing in this house and not a case of, ‘we know what you are about to do so we make sure that you can be proper,’ cause that would be embarrassing.

Once he was done, he left to make his way to the room Keith was staying at. Thankfully, it was at the end of the hallway, with a bit of distance to the rooms with other occupants. This was good, as Lance didn’t know how loud they would end up being, especially himself. He wasn’t sure how much he’d be able to keep his volume down.

Lance stepped through the open door, closing it behind himself. When he turned around to walk in properly, he was pushed against the door, Keith’s lips meeting his own hungrily without a word of greeting.

Well, this was off to a good start.

Keith broke the kiss and moved on to trail kisses down, to Lance’s neck, biting down by the left collarbone. Lance moaned softly.

“As hot as this is, shouldn’t we move this to the bed?” Lance asked breathily.

“Yeah.” Keith’s voice was low, his breath ghosting over Lance’s skin. “Yeah, you’re right. Let’s move this to the bed.”

Without further ado, he lifted Lance up to carry him, bridal style, then gently set him down on the mattress. Immediately, Keith started attacking Lance’s neck again, pinning him down with his own weight. Hands roaming Lance’s still clothed body, sneaking underneath the shirt to play with Lance’s nipples.

Lance moaned at the touch, calloused fingertips and leather on his soft skin. But something wasn’t quite right. “Too many clothes,” he whispered.

Keith paused, looking down at Lance, as if he only just noticed they were both still fully clothed. “Well, that can be changed easily,” he said, slowly. “You want a faster pace, huh?”

“M-maybe…” Lance bit his lips. Suddenly, he realized, he didn’t check the bathroom for lube and condoms, and he sure as hell didn’t bring any. “But, uh, do you have…?”

“Lube and condoms?” Keith finished the question. “Yeah.” He nodded to the space next to the pillow. “Yeah, right here. I came prepared.”

Lance let out a shaky breath. Keith had _planned_ this? God, this was too much. Lance was incredibly aroused. Judging by the bulge in Keith’s pants, though, at least he wasn’t the only one. He looked up into Keith’s eyes, finding them full of desire. He shivered. “So… how about them clothes?”

Keith laughed softly. “Yeah, of course.”

He leaned away so they could both take off their clothes. Lance had fewer layers, so it didn’t take long until he was naked. When Keith looked down at him while fumbling with his jeans, Keith groaned. “God, Lance, you’re so beautiful,” he murmured. “You have no idea how badly I want you.”

“I—I’m nothing compared to how hot you are,” Lance mumbled, blushing. And it was true—with his clothes off, it was visible just how toned Keith was, all broad shoulders and chest and narrow waist-downwards. Jesus, all his talk about working out really was true, huh? Those muscles, damn. Lance wanted to feel them all. Maybe another time, he would have a chance.

Keith finally got rid of his jeans, boxers following behind. As a final step, he started taking off his gloves, but Lance stopped him by grabbing his wrist. Keith raised his eyebrows in confusion, and Lance managed to squeak out: “Leave them on. I—I’ll prepare myself.”

Keith let out a curse under his breath. He croaked: “Yeah, okay. Yeah. Anything you want.”

He sat and watched as Lance grabbed for the lube and put a generous amount in his hand. Lance warmed it up before placing the first finger to his own ass, circling the rim. He pushed in, slowly, waiting before adding the next digit to stretch his hole.

Lance knew what he was doing, as he did this from time to time, when jerking off. He hoped that watching didn’t bore Keith. He chanced a glance up at Keith, finding the other watching with intense eyes, licking his lips hungrily. Lance moaned softly. Well, that answered that.

He added a third finger, scissoring and curling them inside. His moan reached into higher pitch when his fingers grazed his prostate, at the same time as Keith decided to stroke Lance’s thighs with his hands, inching up near his balls.

Lance’s heart was racing. He removed his fingers when Keith ripped open the condom pack to roll it on his dick. Instantly, Lance was yearning to be filled again.

Keith lifted Lance’s hips to place a pillow underneath him. He aligned himself with Lance’s entrance and looked down at Lance. “Are you ready?” he asked, voice hoarse.

“Yes,” Lance breathed. “God, yes.”

Keith nodded. He pushed in, slowly. Lance took a shuddering breath and closed his eyes, but he could feel Keith’s eyes on him, likely studying him for signs of discomfort. Lance could feel Keith’s hands on his hips in a tight grip, was all too aware of the sensation of leather on his skin.

When Keith was fully inside, he paused, giving Lance the opportunity to adjust. Lance breathed in and out, then opened his eyes to return Keith’s gaze. He nodded. “You can move.”

Keith pulled out, only to push in again. He started out with a slow rhythm, but soon, he sped up, encouraged by the moans pouring out of Lance. He settled into a rhythm, and Lance wrapped his legs around Keith. Above him, Keith was grunting and groaning. His eyes never left Lance, as if mapping his face, the ways his expression shifted with each thrust, with each moan leaving his lips, the subtle ways his entire body reacted in pleasure.

And oh, how _good_ Keith felt inside him. But Lance was yearning for more.

“Keith,” Lance moaned. “Keith, touch me.”

“Y-yeah. Of course,” Keith groaned.

He lifted one hand from Lance’s hips. Lance missed the contact of calloused fingertips and leather gloves, but not a moment after, he got something better: Keith’s hand on his dick. Lance nearly cried out loud. With Keith thrusting into him and pumping his cock with a gloved hand, he didn’t know how long he would last.

Especially when Keith found his prostate. Keith lifted Lance’s hips to have a better angle, hitting his prostate with each following thrust.

Lance’s hands dug into the sheets, and it took him all he got not to scream in pleasure.

In between moans, Lance managed to say: “Keith—Keith, I’m gonna—!”

“Y-yeah, me too,” Keith breathed.

Keith gave one more pump while thrusting into Lance’s prostate, and Lance came, spilling all over himself, a cry of Keith’s name on his lips. He could feel Keith follow after a few more well-aimed thrusts, accompanied with a low groan of Lance’s name. Keith leaned down to kiss him, riding them both through the high with continued thrusts.

Finally, Keith pulled out and broke the kiss so he could discard the condom. He got up, and a moment later, returned with a small hand towel to clean Lance off. Lance watched him, still regaining his breath.

“That was the best birthday I ever had, thanks to you,” Lance said breathily.

Keith just smiled and kissed Lance’s forehead affectionately.

Lance looked down at Keith’s hands. “I hope I didn’t ruin your gloves.”

Keith shrugged. “If you did, then this pair is just gonna be my sex gloves.” He smirked. “ _Especially_ since I know now that you seem to be into them.”

Lance shuddered. “So that means… this wasn’t a one-time thing?”

“Obviously, yeah,” Keith said. “If… if you want to do it again, too, that is?”

“God, yeah. I don’t think I could resist the opportunity.”

Keith smiled again. He leaned down to kiss Lance’s lips again, a lazy open-mouthed kiss. When he leaned away, he said: “We should sleep.”

“Sounds good,” Lance slurred through a suppressed yawn. “I’m really tired now.”

“Same here.” Keith yawned as well.

Lance watched as Keith tossed the towel aside and placed the lube on the nightstand, finally also taking off his gloves. Then, he pulled the pillow out from underneath Lance to put it into its proper place. He laid down next to Lance, pulling him into his arms, and pulled the blanket over them both.

“Good night, Lance. Sweet dreams,” Keith whispered into the nape of his neck, placing soft kisses on his skin below his soft curls.

“Good night, Keith,” Lance whispered back.

Lance fell asleep to the even breathing of Keith behind him, all worries for what could go wrong forgotten for this blissful moment.

 

Light was streaming in through the blinds when Lance woke up. He was naked, an equally naked body behind him holding him gently in strong arms. He blinked his eyes open. He recognized he was in one of Allura’s guest rooms.

Behind him, the body stirred, breathing a low groan against Lance’s shoulder and pulling him closer.

Lance’s eyes were wide open as realization hit him. Keith had been there to sing at his birthday party. Keith had fucked him last night, right here.

 _They had fucked_.

This had really happened.

And suddenly, all of Lance’s anxiety came back. Was that what it was? Purely physical? Or were there emotions involved, on both sides?

Keith stirred again. He peppered lazy kisses on Lance’s shoulder blades. “Good morning, sunshine,” he murmured.

Lance smiled despite his anxiety. He turned around slowly. “Good morning, handsome.”

Keith smiled sleepily and now peppered kisses on Lance’s face.

Lance giggled softly, but then fell silent again.

Keith paused and pulled away, frowning. He studied Lance’s face, then asked: “What’s wrong?” His voice was still hoarse with sleep. “You… you don’t have regrets about last night, do you?”

“No!” Lance burst out. “No, God, no, I don’t. I’m—I just—what are we now?”

“Well, uh…” Keith seemed to search for the right words. “I was hoping… I was hoping that I’d get to dedicate my new album… to my boyfriend.”

“O-oh.”

“What do _you_ want?”

Lance took a breath. He looked right into Keith’s eyes as he replied: “I… I would like to be the boyfriend who gets the album dedicated to.”

Keith’s entire face lit up with a smile, so different to the ones Lance had seen on him up to this point. Keith laughed softly, pressing a chaste kiss to Lance’s lips. “Cool.”

Lance giggled again. “Does that mean I get to market my collection as inspired by my boyfriend?”

Keith pretended to think for a moment. “I guess that’s only fair.”

“Would you model for it too?”

“Sure, why not.”

“Cool.”

They both laughed softly, sharing a kiss, without a care for things like morning breath. They were too caught up in the happiness of the moment.

They cuddled and kissed lazily for a while longer, but eventually, they had to get up and get dressed to join everyone for breakfast.

A question formed in Lance’s mind. As they collected their clothes from the floor, careful not to mix them up, Lance asked: “Should we tell the others?”

“We don’t have to say anything, but I don’t see why not,” Keith replied, pulling on his boxers. “I mean, they would find out sooner or later anyway, especially with us arriving at the exact same time and obviously being in high spirits.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

They finished and left the room, their hands intertwining as they walked through the hallway. Already, the unmistakable scent of delicious breakfast foods reached their noses. They entered the living room and found everyone lounging on the sofa and armchairs, a sort of buffet set up on the table.

The conversations halted as they entered. Everyone looked at them, taking in their joined hands.

Lance cleared his throat. “Good morning,” he said.

“Good morning,” Allura greeted. “Care to explain what’s up with the hand-holding?”

“We’re together,” Keith said.

“Congratulations,” came the reply in unison.

Keith and Lance shared a look and shrugged before loading up plates with french toast and grabbing coffee, then squeezing into the remaining armchair, Lance half on Keith’s lap. They joined right into conversations.

Lance couldn’t have been any happier that morning.

 

***

 

At first, they stayed subtle about their relationship. Though, they couldn’t help the flirty and overly affectionate exchanges on their social media.

When it was finally time for Keith to release his new album—the album about his feelings for Lance—they made it official. The album was titled ‘Loving Blue’ and for the cover art, Keith had wanted to use a photo of Keith kissing Lance’s cheek; edited and filtered so that Keith was entirely red and Lance was tinted in blue. He didn’t care how cheesy that was.

The album came with a note dedicated to Lance.

It wasn’t praised by everyone, but Keith didn’t care; he had always followed his heart when making music, when doing anything, really. Sure, he hoped that his fans would love his work, but first and foremost, he wrote for himself, to express his feelings. And that’s what he did, putting his heart out there, proudly displaying his love for Lance.

Lance loved each song from the album, and that’s what mattered the most. Before the release, Keith had given Lance a private performance, when Lance visited his place. He had been rewarded with an utterly flustered and touched Lance, which made it all the sweeter. (Later, they had some _fantastic_ sex with Lance riding Keith, but that was probably unrelated to that.)

When first promoting the new album, Keith picked the song about Lance’s eyes as one of the previews. Lance still showed up whenever Keith played in the park, as it had become a ritual, and Keith held frequent eye contact with him, more so than ever before.

And if Lance stayed behind after a performance to reward Keith with a kiss for a job well done… who was Keith to refuse?

**Author's Note:**

> There's now fanart for this fic!  
> [The first meeting](http://salamandraimoral.tumblr.com/post/169935351442)
> 
> I'm on [twitter](http://twitter.com/crystalklances) and [tumblr](http://crystalklances.tumblr.com)!


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